The US’ decades-long stance in providing Taiwan with weapons has not changed, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said yesterday, after reports that US President Donald Trump’s administration has temporarily set aside an arms sales package to Taiwan to reach a trade deal with China.
“There has been no change to our policy, which is that US arms sales to Taiwan are guided by the Taiwan Relations Act [TRA] and based on an assessment of Taiwan’s defense needs,” AIT acting spokesman Aaron Huang said.
“Our long-standing policy on arms sales to Taiwan has been consistent across multiple US administrations. We believe our consistent policy has contributed to the security of Taiwan, and has also supported the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” he added.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Time magazine on Monday quoted an anonymous US defense official as saying that US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin was holding up a final decision on selling advanced US tanks and other equipment to Taiwan ahead of a meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of this week’s G20 summit in Osaka, Japan.
The Wall Street Journal on Monday last week cited three anonymous White House and administration sources as saying that the US administration is divided over the impact the US$2 billion-plus arms sale could have on its efforts to reinitiate trade talks with China.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs last week said it would continue to work closely with the Trump administration and the US Congress to push for the sale.
In related news, the National Ministry of Defense yesterday said it closely monitored the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning as it passed through the Taiwan Strait earlier in the day.
The carrier, accompanied by other Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy ships, sailed north through the Strait on its way back to it home port in Qingdao, Shandong Province, the defense ministry said.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and Chunghwa Telecom yesterday confirmed that an international undersea cable near Keelung Harbor had been cut by a Chinese ship, the Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. Chunghwa Telecom said the cable had its own backup equipment, and the incident would not affect telecommunications within Taiwan. The CGA said it dispatched a ship under its first fleet after receiving word of the incident and located the Shunxin-39 7 nautical miles (13km) north of Yehliu (野柳) at about 4:40pm on Friday. The CGA demanded that the Shunxin-39 return to seas closer to Keelung Harbor for investigation over the
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9 am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), a neighboring apartment building tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the site with water to stabilize the groundwater level and then added dirt
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